BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators marched in Buenos Aires on Friday to protest the G20’s economic policies as the world’s leading industrialized nations opened their annual summit in the Argentine capital. But the protesters could not get anywhere near the leaders of the United States, Russia, China and other global powers gathered for a meeting whose agenda was expected to be dominated by the U.S.-China trade war. Police, coast guard and border patrols cordoned off a 12-square-kilometer (5-square-mile) area around the riverside Costa Salguero convention center, where the summit is being held. Cargo traffic on La Plata River was shut down for the event. Buenos…

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of major developing economies condemned protectionism at a G20 summit in Argentina on Friday overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to escalate tariffs on China. This year’s two-day gathering is a major test for the Group of 20 industrialized nations, whose leaders first met in 2008 to help rescue the global economy from the worst financial crisis in seven decades. With a rise in nationalist sentiment in many countries, the G20 - which accounts for two-thirds of the global population - faces questions over its ability to deal with trade tensions, which have roiled global…

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Friday as investors hoped for progress on trade in a critical U.S.-China meeting over the weekend, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their biggest weekly percentage gains in nearly seven years. The Dow saw its largest weekly advance in two years. Investors were encouraged this week by comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and subsequent minutes from the central bank’s latest meeting that suggested that the Fed will take a data-driven rather than ideological approach to future rate-hikes. All three major U.S. indexes recorded modest monthly percentage gains for November. A Chinese official said “consensus is…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was aware of fraud allegations against an invention promotion company where he was an advisor and was slow to respond to government investigators probing it, documents released on Friday show. Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Joint Terrorism Task Force office in New York, New York, U.S., November 21, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo AllegriWorld Patent Marketing was a fraud, one angry person wrote in September 2016. “What you don’t know is how many people were scammed by him (Chief Executive Scott Cooper) and how fraudulent they are and how much money they robbed from people,” wrote the…

TOKYO/PARIS (Reuters) - France and Japan’s leaders met for bilateral talks to avert a diplomatic row over the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance on Friday following the surprise arrest of its Chairman Carlos Ghosn in Japan. With the carmaking alliance facing its biggest test after the ousting of Ghosn as chairman of Nissan (7201.T) and affiliate Mitsubishi (7211.T) over financial misconduct allegations, President Emmanuel Macron sat down with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. Ghosn’s arrest to face accusations including the under-reporting of income has triggered new attempts by Nissan to weaken Renault’s control of the Franco-Japanese alliance, adding to challenges facing Macron at home.…

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday that the future of the Renault-Nissan alliance was up to private shareholders, a spokesman for the Japanese leader said. “Prime Minister Abe said regarding the alliance, which is a symbol of Japanese-French industrial cooperation, it is important to maintain a stable relationship,” the spokesman told reporters in Buenos Aires, where Abe and Macron met on the sidelines of the G20 summit. “However, he said the future of the alliance is up to the private-sector shareholders. The government of Japan does not prejudge the future of the alliance.” Reporting by Daniel Flynn…

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices retreated on Friday amid a global glut, racking up a 20 percent drop for November, while world equity markets were mixed ahead of weekend talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The German share price index, DAX board, is seen at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Staff/RemoteU.S. shares, however, turned positive midday after a Chinese official said at the Group of 20 industrialized nations summit in Argentina that the United States and China were making progress on trade talks. “Consensus is steadily increasing,” Wang Xiaolong, director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s department…

ImageA man on the streets of Sacramento in November.CreditRich Pedroncelli/Associated PressThe hottest new apocalypse preparation choice for 2019 is not a bunker or a gun or a lifeboat. And it’s not moving to New Zealand. It’s a small gadget that measures the air pollution around you. As climate change reports become increasingly dire, and as wildfires tear across the American West, and as trust in the federal government’s air quality oversight fades, thousands of people around the country are taking air measurements into their own hands. Installed on a porch, a console table or hooked to a backpack, these small, sleek and increasingly inexpensive devices measure hyper-local…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Friday warned that other associates of President Donald Trump may have lied to Congress, a day after his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to doing so as part of a probe of Russian meddling in U.S. politics. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he attends the USMCA signing ceremony before the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueLawmakers did not level direct accusations at individuals, but the Cohen plea elevated their interest in the veracity of past statements by Trump allies and Trump himself, who was attending the Group of 20 global leaders summit…

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Reuters) - A photojournalist who took a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the car plowing into a crowd of counterprotesters during a white nationalist rally in Virginia last year said in court on Friday that no image in the series showed its brake lights on. FILE PHOTO: James Alex Fields Jr., (2nd L with shield) is seen attending the "Unite the Right" rally in Emancipation Park before being arrested by police and charged with charged with one count of second degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of failing to stop at an accident that resulted in a death after police say he…